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When most people think of what it means to make money blogging, two words seem to come up almost automatically: “instant cash”. And yet blogging for money isn’t your ticket to quick wealth as it’s often made out to be. Most of today’s most successful bloggers didn’t go through any shortcuts and SEO hocus pocus. Instead, they established themselves as experts by creating quality content and maintaining their blog faithfully.

One of the first things that you have to do as a professional blogger is to get ready for all the work that lies ahead of you. Keep in mind that your blog won’t be the only one of its kind that’s already up and running, which means that competition for reader’s attention is much stiffer now. Like every other business enterprise, blogging won’t give you a lot of revenue at the start! You’ll have to devote a lot of time to your site during its first stages, which can be a little difficult if you’re already holding a day job.

Despite these challenges, professional blogging can prove to be very fulfilling once your site has gained a foothold in its own niche and readership base. You don’t just get to write about the things you care about — you also get paid just for sharing your knowledge and opinions about them on your blog! Before you put up your blog, however, read up on these golden rules that will help you monetize your blog. Follow these principles, and you’ll find that blogging for money can be as enjoyable as it is profitable:

1. Decide on a niche to specialize in, and plan out your blog accordingly:

Will you be writing about sports? Or will you be running a steady stream of political commentary on your site? Are you considering putting up restaurant reviews? Whatever your chosen niche is, make sure that the rest of your blog fits well with it. Choose a blog template, for example, that matches your overall theme, and keep your blog posts within the bounds of your chosen niche.

You can afford to create an off-topic blog post every so often, but if you want to gain your readers’ trust and establish yourself as an expert, it’s better to be consistent with your blog entries. If you’re dealing with technology, for example, it wouldn’t exactly serve you well to start talking about relationships or how your visit to the dentist was unsatisfactory.

In the end, however, your niche should involve a subject that you actually love. Think of a topic that you can imagine yourself writing about and doing the research for. It’s hard to fake enthusiasm for a topic that you don’t actually care much about, and it’s a tactic that usually backfires. Don’t start a blog on technology just because it’s a popular subject.

Instead, choose a niche that you feel strongly about, whether it’s food, politics, religion, photography, or even something as esoteric as zoology.

Remember, a good blog is one that’s written with obvious zeal and passion, and dealing with a topic you love ensures that you won’t get sick of writing about it year after year.

2. Update frequently:

Updating your blog regularly can make a big difference in the volume of traffic that your blog receives. You have to give your readers a good reason to visit your blog frequently, and one of the best ways to entice them into your site is by offering new content as often as possible. People don’t want to return to a blog only to find a post that they’d already read before! Make your readers’ visits worth their time by providing them with new content as often as possible.

Frequent updating also ensures that Google and other search engines index your site frequently, making your blog more visible and accessible to others. If you don’t want your blog to fall into obscurity, you have to work at giving your readers a lot of fresh entries.

3. Take advantage of ad networks and affiliate programs:

Once you’ve got your blog up and running, you can look into more direct ways of earning money from your site. A good way to jumpstart this is by signing up for Google Adsense, which rewards you for each click that an advertising link receives from your site.

You can also sign up for an affiliate program such as Amazon.com Associates, Clickbank, or Azoogle. An affiliate program will reward you for every purchase or sign-up that a visitor of your blog makes, as long as he/she clicked through to the product offer from your blog.

The truth, however, is that blogging for money will require you to advertise on your blog, since it’s a proven way to jack up your blog’s earnings. Your revenue, however, will be dependent on the number of readers who flock to your site; the more readers you have, the bigger the chances of having those links clicked on.

4. Write quality posts:

No matter how frequently you update your site, and no matter how many ad networks you’re part of, you can’t earn any long-term revenue unless you offer your readers a lot of quality, credible content. Nobody wants to read something that’s poorly or shabbily written, so do your best to write as well and as accurately as you can.

When your readers realize that they can rely on you to give them solid advice and credible information regarding your niche, they’re bound to return to your blog, as well as create backlinks to your site that will boost your search engine ranking. Once you earn a reputation as an expert with credible opinions and insight about your niche, your readers will come back to your site again and again, generating traffic that spells into profit for you and your blog.

Although there are different ways through which people make money blogging, the best tactic is still to provide quality content to your readers. In the end, your visitors aren’t going to your site just to admire your blog template or the nifty widgets you’re using! You should note, however, that everything about your blog should tie up neatly in the end, and you’re going to have to work a bit more to achieve this. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you’re sure to be blogging your way towards a real and sustainable profit!